Former Vanderbilt football coach James Franklin was in the Commodores section behind the third-base dugout at TD Ameritrade Park.

Franklin, who left Vanderbilt to take the Penn State coaching job in January, said that he was "not interested" in commenting on his appearance.

"We had heard before we came to the game that he was here," said Vanderbilt fan Jeff Pack, who is known for starting the "Black/Gold" chant at baseball games. "We heard that he was over at the team hotel sending the team off. But then when we walked in we saw him down there."

With his wife and daughters, Franklin made the rounds taking pictures and shaking hands with Vanderbilt fans prior to the first pitch against Louisville. He posed for a picture with Pack with both showing the "VU" hand sign.

Louisville first baseman Grant Kay, left, leaps to catch the ball as Vanderbilt's Vince Conde, right, slides back to first base on a pickoff-attempt in the third inning Saturday. (Photo: Ted Kirk / AP)

Like this topic? You may also like these photo galleries:

Funkhouser labors: Coming into the College World Series, Louisville ace Kyle Funkhouser had not lost a game in nearly two months.

But with a patient approach at the plate, the Commodores were able to get the sophomore deep into his pitch count early in the contest.

"I thought we had good discipline for the first couple of innings," Vanderbilt's Dansby Swanson said. "Made him work, and when he came in the zone, we were able to put some good swings on some good pitches."

Funkhouser blamed his control for his struggles, saying he did not have his best stuff.

The right-hander allowed six walks and six hits in six innings. The four earned runs he allowed matched his career worst.

"Coach has been saying it all year — two-out walks will kill you — and that was the definition of tonight," he said. "It's hard to win at the College World Series with a bad start, and that's what that was tonight."

Fulmer wins again: Corbin surprised some by deciding to go with Carson Fulmer over first-round draft pick Tyler Beede against Louisville in the opener, but Cardinals coach Dan McDonnell was not one of them.

"All great teams have that one-two combination, so I think everybody respects Fulmer as much as they do Beede," he said. "I can't specifically say why they started him. I can only speculate because of maybe our speed and putting pressure on the pitcher."

Fulmer earned his seventh win in his eighth start of the season, allowing just two runs in 5⅓ innings and striking out six.​

Blustery day: While storms that were predicted held off and allowed both of Saturday's games to be played, the weather still played a major factor.

Winds at TD Ameritrade Park during the opener between Texas an Cal-Irvine were announced as 35 mph at game time, with gusts up to 43 mph. The winds calmed to 23-32 mph by the start of the Vanderbilt game.

Outfielders played more than 100 feet off the fences during both games.

Chicago connection: Saturday was not the first time Vanderbilt infielder Ro Coleman and Louisville outfielder Corey Ray have shared a baseball field.

The two freshmen were high school teammates at Simeon Career Academy in Chicago. Both also were members of an elite travel team put together by the Chicago White Sox's ACE program, which serves Chicago's inner-city youth baseball players.

Coleman and Ray shared an embrace and brief conversation during warmups.

Guessing game: Corbin might need to brush up on College World Series history before his next trip to Omaha.

NCAA.com conducted a quiz with each of the eight head coaches, asking each of them five trivia questions. Corbin was the only coach to incorrectly answer all five questions.

TCU's Jim Schlossnagle answered three correctly, the most of any coach.

Not all of the questions asked to each coach were the same.

Streak ends: Texas outfielder Mark Payton entered the College World Series with a streak of reaching base in 101 consecutive games. But the streak — the nation's longest and a Big 12 record — ended Saturday with a 0-for-4 performance in the Longhorns' 3-1 loss.

"So what? We lost," Payton said. "It's something I didn't pay attention to. I think a lot of other people paid a lot more attention to it than I did. We lost today, so that's the end of it."

Coach of the year: UC Irvine coach Mike Gillespie was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association coach of the year on Saturday.

The 74-year-old has guided the Anteaters to their second College World Series appearance in program history with a 40-23 record.

It is the second time Gillespie has received the national coach of the year honors. He also won in 1998 at the helm of the Southern California program, which won the national championship that season.

Former stars in attendance: Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley was in attendance on Saturday signing autographs for fans.

Seven-time Cy Young award winner Roger Clemens also was amongst the crowd as a fan of Texas, of which he is an alumnus. His son, Kacy, plays first base for the Longhorns.